13 May 08 Favorite Part of The Week
The boy comes back from Science Camp and declares his favorite part of the whole week was chapel.
Chapel?
Did they not have swimming, hiking, fishing, or eating?
Without any monetary reward for his answer he described chapel as the highlight of the week.
Tripping over my words, I hurriedly formed a sentence to find out why.
This is not a direct quote (nor word for word) but the essence of what he said:
The music was inspiring, I could understand the songs, we were all involved, and the people were glad to be there.
I listened to his description seeking to become became aware of the elusive, missing ingredient in our own assemblies.
I wanted to understand the difference between the two and why he has never said church was his favorite thing that week.
Energy? Enthusiasm? Emotional investment? Connection? Palpable presence of God?
We could say the difference was the praise band.
It very well could be the difference.
Although, I don’t think it’s what you do (or don’t do), it’s how you do what you do.
The difference between a forced apology and a genuine, heartfelt expression of sorrow. (Which one means the most to the giver and recipient?)
If your heart is not in it your offering of worship will never rise above mediocrity.
Another quote from Bob Rognlien (Experiential Worship):
Biblical worship is a life-changing encounter with God himself, moving us to give all that we are back to our Creator. However, we realize that these kinds of encounters are best-case scenarios and do not reflect the effect of typical worship services today. Even if we do occasionally witness key turning points taking place during our gatherings, far too rarely do we see in the lives of those who worship regularly the incremental changes that constitute an ongoing process of spiritual transformation.
In the majority of our churches, life-changing experiences, even incremental ones, are more the exception than the rule. If we are honest, we will admit that our services can easily slip into meaningless rote, driven more by habit than spiritual passion, and that many people attend every week and leave unchanged.
The cynic says “he’s supposed to enjoy chapel at Science Camp, it’s a mountain-top experience.”
His dad says “the reason he’ll abandon this movement is because of attitudes like that.”
What if were serious and intentional about reaching our kids (and I mean truly REACHING them) with a language and culture of worship that speaks to them, that relates to them, that moves them incrementally to become spiritual people?
I think we adults would find ourselves joining them on the journey of incremental life change and spiritual transformation.
Reader's Comments
Leave a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Powered by FireStats
I’m going way out from the norm, but these posts and comments about worship are leading me to observe worship, whether personal or corporate, as a selfish act, not that it’s a bad thing. We are encouraged by the Word to worship God, but not necessarily provided with an owner’s manual. I can’t recall any commandments, no committee recommendations or a stated policy. I only know that worship is to come from within. But in order to reach that deep, to release from within a level of worship that you consider worthy of God, you have to really want it, covet it. And then after you get there, you only want to share the experience.
There’s my dose of metaphysics for the day.
when there are no other ways or places we find our worship occurring–a great deal of pressure is put on the corporate worship assembly. when i find i am the MOST possessive of MY sunday morning experience, i notice it is because i am not finding good connection elsewhere.
i could see how pursuing the hearts/minds of the youth would have a benefit–some from what you are saying but also of a more cynical turn and referencing the cognitive development stage of adolescence and the majority of the population who share it. needless-to-say, i hope that as i watch my daughter grow and mature, she will help cure my cynicism toward the youth group set (bad previous experiences)–hearing about your son helps soften some of the hardness.
i agree that language and culture is a useful (if not necessary) avenue…i think we would have to be wise in the implementation, as to not become a part of the clutter. but citing wisdom is not the same as quoting reluctance.
by the way: i liked that you used the word ‘mediocrity’.
If only all our hearts were as open, receptive, and supple as that of our youth!
If we are to retain our youth, there must be major changes in our attitudes … and possibly some in theirs! But it’s not just our youth. I’m 55 and no longer in the same fellowship that I grew up in and preached in.